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From: Debbie Weibel
Category: Category 1
Date: 19 Aug 2005
Time: 06:55:23 -0500
Remote Name: 65.73.66.96
Jesper Olsen: www.worldrun.org or text mess. 626-429-9217 Hello friends! OUr friend Jesper Olsen is running around the world and he needs crew to move his gear from Fort Wayne to New York! See message received this morning from Jesper's log: ....But not everything was on the positive side today. After getting back at my "home" for the day, I checked my email and found out that I dont have a crew for the last long streatch out to New York after all. - A pretty big blow as that else had seemed to be the last hurdle towards the finish. Earlier in the run I wouldnt have worried that much about pushing the stroller a months and a half alone, but now with more than 24 000km in the legs its a different thing. There is a reason to that the previous records for the longest run ever done stood around 22 - 23000km (and that without pushing things...). By now it doesnt look too likely that I will be able to make it pushing 40kg infront of me to New York. Luckily I have some very helpfull people in Valparaiso who will come out and crew for me next weekend, so that I only will have tomorrow to push the stroller in the first part of the way to New York. Later on, after Fort Wayne I will have to see how it all turns out. I would be happy to pay a crew for the last 800miles out to New York but it seems difficult to find anyone with that short notice. Here is a little background: Jesper Olsen is on the later part of his around the world run with the Midwest to NYC and Ireland and England to finish this amazing feat! The reason I'm sending this to you is that I hope people will welcome Jesper, give him some moral and perhaps some physical support. The type of physical support could be any of the following: crew for the day; which entails moving his gear along that days running route, find lodging, a ride to the grocery store, restaurant or to lodging, and/or ride to the starting point for the next day or if you're a runner, running part or all of the stage. Until recently, he had been traveling alone most of the last 2 months, pushing his gear(35kg) in a stroller. In Wisconsin, we were able to find him crew and lodging since Ellsworth. We also have found crew and lodging for Jesper many of the days in Illinois. We are hopeful that runners and non runners will come out and help Jesper while he runs here in the midwest. Crew is especially appreciated every day, even more during the current heat! Follow Jesper's progress at www.worldrun.org. or email Jesper at jesper@worldrun.org If you know of anyone who would enjoy crewing for a day or would house Jesper, please contact Jesper's cell with text mess. 626-429-9217 If you want to catch him on the road, check out his webpage for the route for the day. He begins and ends his run at the city sign to document his run. He has been starting his runs around 8 a.m. and runs against traffic. Thanks so much for your help! Debbie W. (Our family met Jesper in Australia, last Nov. at the Colac 6 day Ultra Marathon.) Here is a recent article in the Freeport newspaper. Archive Search World runner passes through Jesper Olsen, right front, gets a running escort Thursday morning in Stockton from area residents as he passes through town on his quest to set a record by running around the world. Olsen, from Denmark, began his run January 2004. Photo by Jane Lethlean Denmark resident on quest to run around the world By Diana Thorn-Roemer, The Journal-Standard FREEPORT - As a boy, Jesper Olsen learned to appreciate running. As a 34-year-old young man, he's doing more than appreciating it, he's been living it day after day, mile after mile, all around the world. Yes, Olsen, a Dane from Copenhagen, is running around the world in an attempt to be the first person to do that and set a Guinness World Record. After two years of planning, Olsen has now crossed three and a half continents since Jan. 1, 2004, wearing out 21 pairs of shoes logging 14,913 miles. Thursday, his run brought him through Freeport, where he stayed overnight with Marlene and Virgil Hocraffer. The Hocraffers know the Vanderheydens, who put Olsen up in Stockton Wednesday night. Today, at 8 a.m., Olsen will take off for Rockford from the Freeport population sign at the west edge of Business 20, pacing himself at about 9 mph, he said, right through town. After Rockford, he will stop in Belvidere, where a Danish club will take him in and give him tours. Passing south of Chicago, through Indiana, Olsen hopes to make it to New York by Oct. 7. He will fly to Dublin from New York and run to England on the last leg of the trip, arriving in London by Oct. 20, where the run originated at the Greenwich Observatory. So far, the man schooled in political science has traveled through such cities as Stockholm, Helsinki, Vladivostok, Tokyo, Sidney, Perth, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Winnipeg and Minneapolis. Why is the 5-foot-9-inch long-distance runner doing this? Not for money - he's financing this himself. Not for a cause and not for glory. For love of the sport. "Because it hasn't been done," he said, simply. "The main thing here is - it is a goal of conquering that which hasn't been done before," Olsen said. The run began with two others, a Russian man and a Japanese woman, but both dropped out due to injuries. Now, it is only Olsen. His only injury is to three toenails, which are turning black from the pressure of running. Guinness is tracking his trip on a global positioning satellite, he said, to be sure he doesn't cheat. When he hits an ocean on the journey, such as the Atlantic, he flies to the next city. Flights and hotels are the biggest costs, but he's only spent half of his $80,000 budget. The Hocraffers were tickled to have him. "I think it's wonderful. We really enjoyed having him," Marlene said. He runs only in the mornings - about 22 miles each day, stopping mid-day at host family houses, where he eats and rests overnight. During Thursday's dinner at the Hocraffers, Olsen told them of interesting experiences he had along the way; the most beautiful part of the journey, he said, was Eastern Siberia. "The Highlands were so beautiful, so many fruit trees, apples, pears, anything you want," Olsen said. Crossing the 6,500 miles of Russia was the hardest - and cheapest - part of the journey, costing him about $115 in American dollars - because people were so generous in feeding him and putting him up. But that leg of the trek cost him a lot of energy - the geography was rocks and mountains, and more rocks and more mountains. In some small towns, there was no electricity, no large stock of food supplies, little running water and certainly no e-mail. Communication from town to town there was done by telex, he said. Russians pulled vegetables from their gardens to feed him. Food, in fact, has been quite an experience, he said. He eats a lot of pasta. But in Japan, he had a three-hour dinner in which courses were served in little boxes. "And you ate them with these sticks they use, you know," he said, laughing. "I had no idea what I was eating. The food just kept coming," he said. What he learned on his run, even in remote regions, is that people are friendly. A political scientist by trade, Olsen said people often think in cynical terms of the world's people. "But basically running around the world you see a completely opposite picture. People had a very positive attitude. I have had overwhelming support," he said. Freeport Mayor George Gaulrapp plans to meet Olsen at the population sign this morning and jog with him for a bit, he said, and give Olsen a Freeport pin, as a gift. Local residents are welcome to join Olsen on his run to Rockford. ++++Also, an entry from Jesper's journal on how much crew has meant to him especially in these last weeks:+++++ Previous day Subject: Published date: Distance: 2005-08-03 2005-08-04 22:03 CEDT 22 km 2005.08.03. [Elizabeth; green city sign on Hwy. 20: "Elizabeth"] - [Stockton; green city sign on Hwy. 20: "Stockton"]. 22km, 2:10:31h. Excl. food, water, road-finding, toilet etc. stops Total 23965km. Start: 08:03am. Finish: 10:30am. Time GMT - 7 hours +25c, overcast, humid and medium wind at start. 28c, rain and light wind at finish. After the two very enjoyable stages with Karla as crew and company, one of my other much cherished crews came out to help. Debbie from Chicago who has already been crewing for me for about 10 days back in Wisconsin has driven out from Chicago to help me across Illinois, though it will be a long stretch for her ! At this stage of the run that is a very very appreciated help as I know myself well enough to know that if I was to push the stroller alone the last about 1000miles out to New York there would be little chance that I would be able to make it ! There is a BIG difference between pushing 35kg of equipment with a few months of 50km-a-day running in the legs - compared to now with 24 000km & 1.7 years in the legs. By now I can do that that for a week or two, then there isn?t more energy left. So: A HUGE THANKS TO THOSE THAT COMES OUT TO HELP ME!!! If I make it to London and complete this first lap around the world, then much of the honour belongs to you :-) HERE IS HIS SCHEDULE FOR THE NEXT TWO WEEKS: Schedule from Chicago to New York: 19/8 To: Plymouth 20/8 Warsaw 21/8 Columbia City 22/8 Fort Wayne 23/8 Van Wert 24/8 Delphos 25/8 Cairo 26/8 Williams Town 27/8 Upper Sandusky 28/8 Bucyrus 29/8 Mansfield 30/8 Wooster 31/8 E. Greenville 1/9 Canton 2/9 Minerva 3/9 Lisbon 4/9 East Liverpool 5/9 Cross of hwy. 30 # hwy. 18 6/9 Pittsburg